Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Remarkable Showing in the Face of Adversity

When Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli clinched the driver of the day poll after finishing eighth, it sparked a wave of skepticism. However, upon closer inspection, there were compelling reasons to be impressed with Antonelli’s performance. The race was marred by floor damage that significantly impacted his W16’s performance characteristics.

The Cause of the Damage: Debris from a First-Lap Collision

The likely cause of the damage was debris from Charles Leclerc’s collision with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. Although the immediate consequences of the impact were evident, the main part of the endplate didn’t detach until later in the opening lap. Antonelli was running behind Leclerc on track during the initial sequence of corners, battling for seventh place.

The damage showed up in data, but Mercedes chose not to inform Antonelli about the issue until later in the race. “He had extensive floor damage,” said team boss Toto Wolff in his post-race press conference. “We don’t know exactly why, whether he ran over Charles’s endplate, but there was a massive hole in the floor, and the titanium streaks [skid plates] were gone.”

Despite driving a car that was severely impaired, Antonelli managed to hold on, finish eighth, and not complain. His maturity and potential were evident in his performance. “Considering he had a car which was severely impaired – holding on to it, finishing eighth, not complaining, just getting on with the job, shows the maturity and the potential he has,” said Wolff.

The Impact of Damage on Performance at Shanghai Circuit

The Shanghai circuit is unique on the F1 calendar because the front axle is stressed more than the rear. There are fewer areas requiring hard acceleration, and most of the corners are slow to medium-speed. Crucially, the tightening radius of the opening sequence of right-hand corners combines with the fast right-hander onto the back straight to put a strain on the front-left tyre.

Having a rear limitation on a car at Shanghai makes it vulnerable at the exit of that opening sequence of turns and under traction onto the back straight, which is highly damaging to overall lap time. “It was really hard to keep up,” said Antonelli. “I was trying to look after the rears as much as possible.” Despite these challenges, Antonelli gained two more positions after the race when both Ferraris were disqualified – Leclerc because his car was found to be underweight, and Lewis Hamilton because of illegal plank wear.

“I could feel something was weird from lap one,” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “Yesterday the limitation was the front left, today the limitation was the rear for the whole race – which was quite unusual, I found it really weird.” The Shanghai circuit presented a tough mental challenge for Antonelli, but he emerged with valuable lessons and two additional positions.